China achieved its first controlled recovery of a rocket first stage after an orbital launch on 10 July 2026, a milestone in its pursuit of reusable launchers. But the United States, led by SpaceX, still holds a commanding lead in orbital access.
Chinese satellite factories are running far ahead of launch capacity. Geespace’s Taizhou facility can produce up to 500 satellites per year, with semi-automated lines in Wuhan, Nantong and Zhuzhou. A new Wuxi plant, launched in 2026, is designed to exceed 150 satellites annually. The bottleneck is getting them into orbit: deployment schedules for Guowang and Qianfan depend on regular launches, and International Telecommunication Union rules require phased deployment, or registered frequency allocations may be reduced.
Reusable rockets: from failed landings to first catch
China’s path to reusable launchers began with VTVL demonstrators. Hyperbola-2Y from iSpace made two successful flights in late 2023, validating variable-thrust engines and precision landing, though without the reentry heat and speed of orbital missions. In December 2025, Zhuque-3 from LandSpace and state-owned Chang Zheng-12A reached orbit on maiden flights, but first-stage recovery failed.
The breakthrough came on 10 July 2026, when the Chang Zheng-10B, built by CALT, put a satellite into orbit and its first stage returned vertically to be caught by a net on a sea platform. That was China’s first controlled recovery of an orbital-class stage. The rocket is a commercial variant of the Chang Zheng-10 family, designed for constellations and large payloads. It inherits the first-stage architecture of the Chang Zheng-10A, a 5-meter-diameter, up-to-67-meter-tall two-stage rocket with seven engines, intended to launch Mengzhou crew capsules and Tianzhou cargo ships to the Tiangong station.
A family of launchers for lunar, crewed and commercial missions
The Chang Zheng-10 family also serves China’s lunar ambitions. The basic version, with a central core, two boosters and three stages, is intended to carry the Mengzhou spacecraft and Lanyue lander in the crewed Moon landing program. That common base gives the commercial 10B access to technology and experience from human-rated missions. In February 2026, a CZ-10 stage tested the Mengzhou escape system at about 105 km altitude, splashed down and was recovered, verifying much of the return profile before the orbital recovery.
Beijing is expanding launch capacity with more than just reusable vehicles. The Chang Zheng-8 and 8A have become workhorses: the CZ-8 carried 18 Qianfan satellites per flight, while the 8A flew batches of Qianfan and Guowang. The Chang Zheng-12B made its debut on 1 June 2026 with another Qianfan group, offering about 20 tons to LEO; no recovery was attempted. CAS Space’s Kinetica-2, first flown on 30 March 2026, can carry about 12 tons to LEO or 8 tons to Sun-synchronous orbit, a lower payload because SSO needs an inclination of about 98 degrees.
Ground infrastructure and the gap that remains
Launch infrastructure is also being scaled up. Hainan’s commercial spaceport conducted nine launches in 2025, and its second phase adds pads 3 and 4 for liquid-propellant rockets.
The gap with the US remains large. China performed 92 launches in 2025, according to CNSA. SpaceX flew the Falcon 9 165 times, including more than 120 Starlink missions. BryceTech data show SpaceX lifted about 2.23 thousand tons into orbit versus about 290 tons for all Chinese operators, an almost eightfold advantage.
SpaceX has built an integrated system: mass production of launchers and satellites, high mission cadence, booster reuse and a commercial constellation that funds operations. China’s approach is more fragmented, with several companies funded in parallel to avoid dependence on one design, though this risks duplicating work and competing for scarce engineers, engines and pads. Guowang and Qianfan provide reliable demand.
The CZ-10B recovery is a key step, but reusability still has to be proven in routine operations. China must also show that recovered stages can be processed quickly, expendable upper stages can be produced at scale and spaceports can handle more frequent launches. In the US-China rivalry, launch frequency is a measure of resilience; megaconstellations need rapid replenishment to survive satellite losses. The US remains ahead, but China is gaining.
Source: WNP.PL, Photo: Artsiom P / Shutterstock
